Harbor Freight has come out with a new Hercules universal portable band saw benchtop stand.
They say that the new attachment “turns just about any portable band saw into a powerful, precise, horizontal or vertical benchtop cutter.
it’s designed for use with “most brands of portable deep-cut band saws.”
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The Hercules benchtop band saw stand can be used in two configurations – horizontal or vertical.
Horizontal band saws are often lowered to a workpiece to to make straight cuts in metal, while vertical band saws are often used to make straight, curved, or intricate cuts in a metal workpiece.
The base has angle guides at 0°, 30°, 45°, and 60°, and a clamp slot for securing workpieces (clamps are not included).
Pre-drilled mounting holes allow for the benchtop stand to be secured to a work station for more permanent placement.
A quick-release gas strut holds the saw in an open position for making horizontal cuts.
Harbor Freight says that the base is compatible with deep-cutting band saws from their Hercules and Bauer brands, as well as Dewalt and Milwaukee.
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The base comes with a vertical table stand and mounting brackets for “popular brands.” The user manual provides instructions for securing Milwaukee (corded and cordless) and Dewalt (corded and cordless) deep-cutting band saws.
Price: $99
Tom
I know they’ve upped their game in recent years, but I’m still very wary of buying anything from Harbor Freight where a mechanical or electrical failure on the part of the tool could result in serious injury. I’m sure the factory they’re sourcing these from has been thoroughly vetted, but this is one of those tools where I’d spend extra to go with a company that backs it with a warranty longer than 90 days.
Chris
The brushless Hercules stuff has a 5 year warranty. And honestly I haven’t heard terrible things about HF tools, as far as fires or catastrophic failures go, since they ditched Chicago electric. Performance wise, Hercules seems to be pretty decent. Bauer leaves a lot to be desired. But they really have come a long way
Bonnie
This might be a case of buy the stand, but replace the gas spring with a more robust and trusted one. I did that with their paint sprayer pot, dropping in a higher quality safety release valve for peace of mind.
Bruce
I own two of their portable band saws, one at the house and one at work. It’s very good, as good as the Milwaukee IMO.
Xrh07
This isn’t one of those things that would pose any serious issues.
Plus the alternative is $350. I’d rather have 90 day warranty with option to extend and still be under 1/3 price of the only other option. Keeps price down on something I wouldn’t ever expect to break outside the $10 gas strut. Any other expected damage would come from falls/drops that warranty wouldn’t cover anyways
Peter Fox
This looks quite good. Having a two in one package for that price makes it a great deal. Adding a stand and table to any of the deep cut band saws on the market is a game changer to a small shop. Much more accurate that using the same saw free hand and much more affordable that a proper metal cutting vertical band saw and horizontal cutoff band saw. I built a simpler vertical only stand for my M18 deep cut saw and use it all the time.
As long as they didn’t skimp on metal thicknesses or completely mess up the tolerances this should be pretty solid and accurate. I suspect that this will be a popular item. Making it brand agnostic and having instructions for using it with popular competitors tools is really forward thinking.
MM
Totally agreed all around. I find myself using a portaband less these days than I have in the past, but something like this would be a game-changer for a hobbyist or a small shop. For not all that much money & very little shop space you get a portable handheld bandsaw, a vertical bandsaw, and a horizontal saw. It’s not of much use to me right now but I’d have bought this in a heartbeat years ago.
Koko The Talking Ape
I don’t know sh*t about metal, but this looks like something I could use. I’m tired of using a hacksaw to make ragged, crappy-ass cuts in steel tubing or angle. Even if it isn’t exactly square in either direction, shims can do a lot.
Nathan
I think the key is if you have a need for a portable bandsaw. Big if
How much is a bench top band saw
Gordon
Most of the cheap bench top band saws are designed for wood, whereas portabands are designed for metal. A cheap verticle bandsaw runs about $250, and a horizontal runs about $200. A portaband and this mount is about $210. You have one tool that can cut two ways, plus the added convince of being portable if needed.
Swag made a stand for most portabands and it’s been really popular. But this stand has the added feature of being a horizontal saw too. That’s one of the few ways to guarantee a nice 90deg cut.
Stuart
Horizontal band saws can get very pricey, and they’re not at all very portable.
I was looking at an entry-level Shop Fox the other day, with 4-1/2″ round stock and 4″ x 6″ rectangular stock cutting capacity. https://www.amazon.com/SHOP-W1715-Metal-Cutting-Bandsaw/dp/B001R23T1C/?tag=toolguyd-20
The Dewalt 20V Max band saw https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCS374B-Deep-Band-Tool/dp/B00VEA2904/?tag=toolguyd-20 has a 4″ round and 5″ x 4-3/4″ rectangular cutting capacity.
fred
What I wished for was something like the DoAll that we had in our fabrication shop. What I have is a Milwaukee portable band saw table tucked away to be pulled out when needed. That puts extra space in my shop and an extra $25,000 in my bank account.
GZ
I really wish I had the space for a DoAll — I have seen more than a few of them go for peanuts on CL and at auctions near me.
mattd
Honestly if I had not just picked up a used 4×6 central machinery Horizontal/Vertical Metal Cutting Band Saw for $75 at good will I would be all over this, as a I have a corded Milwaukee porta band. Honestly with as finicky as the bigger saw is I may just try selling it for a couple hundred and just buy this instead anyway.
S
I admit, this frustrates me a little. I have the big brother-the $400 non portable model.
https://www.harborfreight.com/horizontal-vertical-metal-cutting-bandsaw-93762.html
If I had known this was in the pipeline when I bought mine 3 years ago, I would’ve waited.
The model I have got assembled in my basement workshop, and due to the heft, it’s taken up permanent residence down there. My problem is I enjoy working outside when the weather is nice, which results in dozens of trips to the basement for every cut. Great for working out, terrible for project speed.
This being a tri-use tool, it’s likely going to end up in my garage anyways. A lot harder to argue the price point.
Jaycob P.
I made a homemade wood vertical stand for my Bauer saw, but this looks much better. I may have to go pick one uo.
M
Pending seeing it and seeing people’s reviews on it this might make me buy a portable bandsaw. I’m working out of an attached garage that’s not a dedicated shop, so I could see where this would save me time and space. I don’t often work in metal, but I can see that changing in the future.
Jack D
I never saw the point to a portable bandsaw but this kind of changes my view on it. I’ll get my hands on one next Tuesday when I go to the Harbor Freight, then we’ll see what it looks like.
mattd
This looks like a basic exact copy of the trick tools ones https://www.trick-tools.com/Portaband-Pro-for-DeWalt-Portable-Band-Saw-PBP-DEWALT-17563 only much cheaper and not model specific (so better IMO)
Keith
I actually just purchased one of these two days ago. I was hesitant at first, but was the only other option comparable to it being almost $400 I had to try. Once I took it out of the box just the weight of it told me it was going to be sturdy. Once I finally got my corded Milwaukee mounted and dialed in it cuts great. The gas strut is more than enough to lift the saw every time. This is one harbor freight tool that I will recommend every time
Diplomatic Immunity
Bandsaws for metal are usually very expensive unless you’re getting one of the smaller portable bandsaws. The difference between a metal cutting bandsaw and a wood cutting bandsaw is that a metal cutting bandsaw needs to run at a lot lower speed as well as using a different blade, obviously. You can sometimes get gear reducers to put on bandsaws made to cut wood so that you can lower the speed and cut steel.
People have been using SWAG off road for a long time in combo with the smaller portable bandsaws. https://www.swagoffroad.com/products/swag-portaband-pro-table
Diplomatic Immunity
This looks like it works better for horizontal cutting whereas the SWAG offroad one looks to be better for vertical work since it has a miter slot for using a miter gauge.